


The Normandy crew needs more whiskey

by themoonowl



Series: A Real Hero [12]
Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Bonding, Crushes, Drinking, Drinking & Talking, Family Feels, Female Friendship, Gen, M/M, Male-Female Friendship, Mass Effect 1, Military Ranks, POV Ashley Williams, Past Relationship(s), Samed Is A Boy Scout, Women in the Military, at least the first part, friendships, sharing stories
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-26
Updated: 2019-11-26
Packaged: 2021-02-26 00:40:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,320
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21574666
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/themoonowl/pseuds/themoonowl
Summary: Some of the Normandy crew are a bit tense, Ash included. She has an idea on how to remedy the situation.(Since this was running on over 5k words, decided to split it into 3 chapters. Still technically a one-shot)
Relationships: Kaidan Alenko/Male Shepard, Liara T'Soni & Ashley Williams, Male Shepard & Ashley Williams, Male Shepard & Liara T'Soni
Series: A Real Hero [12]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1429021
Comments: 2
Kudos: 16





	1. Good Morning, Starbug

Yet another start to an ordinary day on the Normandy. Warm coffee in hand, Ashley was greeted by the usual sight: the poor lighting in the cargo hold, Skipper fixing the Mako again, Wrex hanging out with Garrus by the lockers. She gave everyone a greeting nod and went on her way.

Opening her terminal, she noticed the date—maybe it wasn't an ordinary day after all. It was Dad's birthday, and she knew what that meant—some whiskey and Tennyson later in the day. And desperately missing the old man, God rest his soul. But that was for later. For now, there were lots of guns that needed cleaning, lots of mods that needed installing.

With her coffee finished, Ash cracked her knuckles and got to work.

Skipper’s gun was up first, the high tech Spectre one. Kind of useless for him, since he used it sparingly, but it was in need of some upgrading. Maybe a scope, since the man couldn’t land a solid shot, even if he tried. At least he had his omni-tool tricks.

LT’s was up next and he used guns even less now that he’d gotten comfortable glowing and frying stuff. Skipper’s old mods for him.

As for Liara—she was all about glowing and throwing things. Guess she’d have LT’s old stuff.

Wrex tended to his own guns, so she didn't have much to work with there. Though Tali was in need of something that’d reduce the kickback on hers. Girl had strong legs, but could desperately use some upper body workouts.

Garrus fixed his own stuff too, especially with Skipper taking his work on the Mako away. Still, it was a good idea to at least clean his assault rifle. No matter the species, men really didn’t know how to keep their stuff nice and tidy, huh?

Next up was checking what the news were up to, some mail and—Ash’s stomach rumbled. The clock showed four, so it was about time for lunch. She put away all her stuff, wiped her hands from any leftover gun oil and idly turned her gaze to the Mako, where Skipper still was. He’d usually leave late morning, since he stayed up nights, but this time… something was up. And it looked like it wasn’t just “avoiding the LT” this time.

She walked over to the Mako and knocked on the hull. An unshaven face poked out from beneath the APC, dark circles under his eyes. "Hey, Skipper. How long have you been in there?"

“Well for this part, maybe an hour—”

“I meant the hold. I haven’t seen you leave.”

“Since. Four?”

“Have you at least eaten anything, sir?”

"Yeah. Had lunch about—" he checked his omni, "—two hours ago? I'm good."

He really looked like he wasn't. "Okay. Just checking up on you, Skipper. You're." Ashley sighed. "Just take care of yourself, okay? I know after Terra Nova and that asteroid—"

"I'm fine, Williams. Really." He flashed a smile. A smile that looked like it took a lot of effort. "But thanks." He crawled back in. 

Strange fella. Though, everywhere she’d been posted, almost all of the mechanics and engineers had been like that. Quiet, tend to keep to themselves, but wouldn't mind the company if it was offered. Skipper was the same, but. Something was up. That was a thought for until after lunch, though.

With her hands properly washed with soap and water this time, Ashley put her meal in the microwave and made herself another coffee. She went to the mess, where Liara sat hugging a mug of what looked and smelled like tea in her hands.

Ash sat opposite her and noticed that her eyes too had those dark circles, like Skipper's. Was nobody sleeping in the entire ship?

It was understandable, though. Two weeks had passed since the poor kid lost her mom. When her own dad died, the world just looked grey for a whole month or two. "Hey." Just as Ash said that, Liara sharply gasped, like awoken from a daydream.

"Oh! I am sorry, Chief Williams. I didn't see you."

"You doing okay there, Liara?"

"I am fine, thank you. And you?"

"You sure? You look like you haven't slept in days."

"I. Perhaps. Sleep has been rather difficult, lately." Liara sighed and turned her gaze down. "I am sorry. I do not wish to disturb you with this, Gunnery Chief." She got up and took her mug with her. "We'll talk another time, Chief Williams."

Liara walked out of the mess with that stiff, brisk kind of walk that all scientists had for some reason. Only, there was a nervous tinge to it somehow. Girl was not taking her mother’s death well, not at all.

Ashley continued her meal alone. First food and then—well, her duties had all been squared away for the day. Guess Tennyson and whiskey was the plan now, even if there was an itch to her feet for some reason.  _ Go out there and have a life, Starbug,  _ that’s what Dad would say, God bless him.

Well, she might not be entirely alone. Liara looked like she could use some loosening up. Maybe she’d like Tennyson too, she seemed like the bookish type. It was a plan, then. 

Ash cleaned up after her meal and headed for the bookworm’s office. She was still there, thank God, typing something on her terminal and Ash touched her shoulder, careful not to startle her.

It didn’t work. She got jumpy. “Gunnery Chief, I—”

“Come on. You’re coming with me. Gonna have some girl on girl time.”

“What? I believe that requires consent—”

“Uhm, not that kind of girl time. Just something to help you loosen up.”

Ashley managed to drag the poor girl to the cargo hold and past the other jumpy, hadn’t-gotten-much-sleep crew member working on the  _ back _ of the Mako now.

She got an even better idea.


	2. One soldier, one scientist, one engineer

Another fuel cell destroyed—Samed threw it in the trash, where it bounced off the edge and fell on the floor. That was the third one completely wasted, even with Tali’s method. Maybe he should stop for the day. These things were expensive, after all.

“Skipper?” He turned narrowed eyes upwards and to the blurry vision of the Chief with her arms crossed. “You’re coming with me.”

"What?"

"Just trust me. It's gonna be fun."

“O-kay? Let me clean up here first.”

“Sure. Meet me behind the rear access ramp when you're ready.” Ash gave him two finger-guns and was off to her locker, where she pulled some kind of tall cardboard box.

_Behind the rear access ramp._ He'd seen Bakari and Dubyansky sneak there—if that attempt of theirs could even be called sneaking—a few nights ago. Samed didn't say anything. He used to be like those two boys years ago and—

It was like wires short-circuited in his heart. Samed sighed. Those memories still hurt for some reason. Odd, considering—he shook his head. Those were thoughts for another time.

He picked up the broken cylinders off the floor and properly put them in the trash, then closed the hatch on the Mako. The blisters on his hands stung as he wiped them on the soft fabric of the towel; there were some minor burns too from the fuel cells that almost exploded in his hands. _Always wear gloves,_ his old man would say, just before doing something almost impossible with his bare hands.

A quick and proper wash later, he took a peek behind the rear access ramp and saw Liara and the Chief sitting on the ground, a bottle of what looked like whiskey and three plastic glasses.

Ash noticed him first and motioned for him to join and he sat down, forming a circle around the bottle and glasses.

"Alright. Here's what we're gonna do."

"Where did you get that bottle, Chief?"

"Had it, not important. Now listen you two. It's my dad's birthday today. So I was thinking." 

Ash turned to Liara. "Liara, you just lost your mom. And—no, I don't want to hear it. You're not fine. And you." She turned to Samed. "You're also not fine after what happened on that asteroid. And I know it's because of your folks. So here's what's going to happen."

Ash opened the bottle and started pouring the whiskey in all of the three glasses. "We're gonna share stories. Good, bad, doesn't matter. One rule is, they have to be about family. Your family. After each story, we take a shot."

Liara raised her hand. "E-excuse me, I don't drink—"

"Take a sip then, it doesn't matter."

Ash took a glass in her hand and motioned for everyone else to take one too. It almost felt like one of those drinking games from Basic, after lights out.

"I'll go first, I guess. So." Ash inhaled then exhaled. "It was my mom and dad's anniversary. Mom got him a Jameson every year, and it became a sort of a tradition to just crack it open between them and celebrate. So, they apparently got tipsy on it while me and my sisters were in school—I was a senior, but Abby and Lynn were third year and freshman, I think—anyway. We come home, and some old jazzy music was playing. And there they were in the living room, dancing! Pretty good too, just like what you'd see on TV."

Samed smiled at the cute story and reflexively took a sip of his drink, the familiar bitter taste grazing his tongue.

"That sounds lovely, Miss Williams."

Ash downed her whole drink in one go, shook her head and said, "Just call me Ash, Bluebird."

"Alright. Ash. I do not know much about avian species on your home planet, but I like that name. It reminds me of what Benezia used to call me."

"Glad to hear it, Bluebird! Now drink."

Liara brought the glass to her mouth and took the tiniest sip before her face curved into a grimace.

"You'll get used to it. Alcohol tastes better with age and you've got a lot of those coming. Now, who wants to be next? Skipper?"

Samed sighed and took another sip. "Alright. Let's see. So my dad was always a bit...too much when it came to people I hung out with. Always asked them about their grades, their parents, what they did, that sort of thing. So, I was about fourteen, I think, and there was this guy, Vlad. So we started going out—or, well, 'going steady'—and I brought him over to lunch at my place after school one Friday. Wanted him to meet my folks. So my dad sees him, this spiky haired punk kind of guy, and—"

Ash started laughing. "Sounds like a guy I dated when I was a freshman for like, a month."

"Yeah, this one was even shorter. But at the time, I thought this guy was the real deal. Even said the L-word around the first week.” Samed chuckled and Ash followed suit, with Liara looking puzzled. 

“But anyway, my dad starts his interrogation. Vlad answers all of it but keeps giving me these weird looks. So Mom tries to cool the situation down a bit and my dad stops. Problem is, now he has nothing to talk about. So he started talking about engines instead and Vlad, of course, got bored of that. What kid wants to hear about supercapacitors and power couplings?"

"I assume you did," Liara said with a completely serious face.

"I mean, yeah, but." Samed cleared his throat. "Anyways. When I walked him home after that, he broke up with me. Told me my folks were too weird and that he wasn't into that."

"Wow, what an ass."

"That's not all. Next Monday at school I saw him with another guy. Guess he was planning on breaking up with me, just didn't know how. So I told all of this to my dad and he just said, ' _if he doesn’t respect family, he doesn’t respect you.'"_

"I believe your father was correct. One's own family should not become a detriment to a relationship.”

“Yeah. Papa Shepard sounds like he had the right idea.”

“Maybe. He could’ve been a bit less…” The word was on the tip of Samed’s tongue, and he snapped his fingers in a vain attempt to remember it.

“Helicopter parenting?” Ash blurted out and Samed nodded. “Yeah, that happens a lot with single kids. You were an only child, right?

“Yeah.” Samed downed the glass and Ash started pouring him another shot. “Liara, what about you?" he continued. "You’re an only child too, right?”

“I believe so. Perhaps my father, wherever she might be, has had other offspring, but Benezia only had me.”

“Speaking of which, your turn to tell a story, Bluebird.”

“Hm, well let’s see. I had enrolled in the University of Serrice on Thessia. On the day before I was set to leave, my mother spent the whole day baking. Sweets, pastries, everything she could think of to give me a proper sendoff. Our entire apartment smelled of the spices she constantly used.” Liara sighed. “I missed her cooking the most during my stay at the university. My roommate and I cooked for ourselves, but it was not the same.”

“Do you still miss it? Her cooking?” Samed asked, his thoughts drifting away to the Academy, where he too couldn’t get his food to be quite like his folks', no matter how hard he tried or how many different spices he used.

“I do. I was thinking of making one of her sweets, in fact. But I’m afraid the Normandy’s kitchen is too small and one of the ingredients requires refined Element Zero.”

“Yeah, that’s the Alliance for ya. Can fly undetected with no problems, but the crew stuff is small and cheap.”

“Still, I am impressed by—” Ash motioned for Liara to drink. “Right.” She took another sip, a bigger one this time, but her face still twisted afterwards. Then she raised her…brows? “I believe I am beginning to like this drink, whiskey.”

Ash gave her a smile. “Yeah. It grows on you.”

Stories continued to be shared. Ash told one about her mom giving all of her sisters The Talk and having to use a banana and a donut to make her point. And at one point, two donuts. All of them had agreed to give the food she'd used to someone else after that lesson. And that unlucky soul was their unaware dad.

Samed told one about how his mom called his dad “the most beautiful work of art in the galaxy” almost every day. How Samed would stick out his tongue and grimace at them both when he was a kid, thinking it was gross. How now, as an adult, he thought it was the most romantic thing he'd heard.

Liara was up next with a story about sledding with her mother on a snowy day when she was a kid. How Benezia helped her fasten all of the straps on her jacket and how she used her biotics to move Liara around. 

It was a bit tragic, the difference between Benezia as a caring mother and Saren’s second in command. But Liara looked like she was relaxing, even managed to drink the whole glass of whiskey Ashley had poured her.

After what had been a week of intense stress, Samed too felt the muscles on his shoulders ease up as the three of them sat and just. Talked. And talking about his parents… it was a wonder he didn’t do it more often. Talking about the dead meant honoring them, after all.

But. It reminded him of their absence. He wouldn't see any new art from Maama, nor hear her voice again. He wouldn't know what lecture Baaba would give him. Lectures he rolled his eyes at when he was young, but now. What he would give for Baaba to be here again, tell him whether he did the right thing by joining the military, or on Elysium, or with...Balak. What would he'd have thought of the man he used to love for four years before that love withered away with a whimper? What would he say now, about the whole mission with Saren, about. About Lieutenant Alenko?

He rested the back of his head against the metal casing of the ramp and closed his eyes, tears quietly falling on his cheeks.

When he opened them, he was greeted by an oddly comforting, if not depressing sight. Liara's eyes glistened in the dim light and Ash wiped the tears from hers. Just three people sitting in the dark, three friends that have lost their loved ones, taking a moment to remember them. No matter what happened or had happened in the galaxy, his parents would at least be proud of this moment, right here.

Samed raised his half-full glass and felt his voice break. "To. To our folks." Both Ash and Liara raised theirs. "To Isam and Hadia."

"To Benezia."

"To Curtis. May all of them rest in peace."

Three plastic glasses came together, right before being emptied the next moment. Even Liara's.

"Woah." Liara pressed a palm on her head. "That was a mistake."

"Come on, I'll walk you to your room, Bluebird. You're gonna stay here, Skipper?"

"I guess so, yeah."

"Good, I'll be back."

"Hey, Liara!" Samed yelled out. "If you need anything, I'm here, just so you know."

"Thank you, Shepard, I." She looked like she swallowed down a vomit.

"Come on, gonna get you to Dr. Chakwas' office."

"Do you need help—"

"It's okay, I got this, Skipper. You stay there."

So he did. He felt the alcohol wash over his mind as he sat alone, in silence. It was late by that point, about nine in the evening. The cargo hold was usually empty by then, perfect for working. And for thoughts that were hard to process. One of those being Alenko, of course, a face he'd always see in his mind lately, whenever he'd close his eyes.

Only now it was followed by a stubbly bronze-brown one with glistening emerald eyes as he was telling him that things wouldn’t work out anymore.

Maybe the whiskey was a bad idea. Samed poured himself a shot and emptied his glass.

Ash came back after a while and sat opposite him, resting her head on the metal wall of the Normandy itself.

"Is Liara okay?"

"Yeah, Bluebird's fine. Reminds me of me when I got drunk for the first time."

"Heh, yeah. That first hangover. I remember feeling like I was gonna die. I could always hold my drinks, but that tequila really messed me up."

"Tequila is known for that. But that's not what I wanted to talk about. You're still tense, Skipper. Something on your mind?"

"You'll have to be more specific, Chief."

"LT."

Samed felt a tightness in his stomach. "Oh no."

"Ohh yeah. I want all the details, sir. What's going on there?"

"Nothing's going on. I'm his CO, he's my Lieutenant. You can maybe call it friendship, at best."

Ashley chortled. "Yeah right. I've seen how you look at him. And I've seen the LT himself get kinda sad that you haven't been topside much the past week."

Samed felt a pleasant flutter move up his chest. "He's. Sad? About me?"

"He doesn't show it much, but yeah. Army boy misses you upstairs. So why not take the shot?"

The tightness in Samed's stomach got more intense. He was going to need more whiskey. Or less? He poured another shot and took a sip.

Then shook his head and said, "What's this, Williams? A month ago you were all about the regs."

"Only concerning me, sir. Doesn't mean I'm against other people having fun while we're doing the Council's dirty work."

"You know that isn't always fun. Breaking the regs." Samed rolled the plastic glass between his fingers.

"Got a story there, Skipper?"

He had a story, alright. He took another sip, a bigger one this time, and shook his head.

"Olly. Olivier. A fellow engineer, met him in college. We then went on to work for the Alliance, and then I enlisted, and we shared some posts together. He was. Nice. Took his time with me. He had these big green eyes and." Samed sighed. He was off topic.

Ash only gave him a smile. A sincere one, unlike the ones she knew to give, filled with mischief.

"Anyways, we managed to hide our relationship for a full year before our commander found out. We were given a choice. Discharge or different postings. Olly and I chose the latter, thinking we could make it work. Should've ended it right there."

"I hold it true, whate'er befall. I feel it when I sorrow most. Tis better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all."

"Tennyson again?"

Ashley nodded. "If you'd ended it there, Skipper, you'll always ask yourself whether you've done the right thing."

"You ever been in one, Chief? A long distance relationship?"

"Nah. Don't care for any of those, much."

Samed took another sip. "We continued our thing for another three years, I think. I'd get leave every three or four months to see him and every time it would feel. Different. I'd wake up next to him and bit by bit he wouldn't feel like the same man I… loved. I don't know if that even _was_ love in the end. Just ashes of what used to be fire. But it hurt. God, it hurt so bad." 

Samed downed his glass and pressed his palms to his head. There was a sound of the bottle being opened again and Ash pouring more of the drink into both glasses.

"So. Is that the whole story, Skipper?"

"Yeah. Pretty much."

"Then I have one thing to say." She closed the bottle. "Bullshit."

"What?"

"You heard me, sir." She took a long gulp of the whiskey. "Bullshit. It's different now and you know it."

"You're right. It is different. Now we're on a mission to stop a rogue Spectre, the stakes are even higher."

"So's your rank. You're not a soldier anymore, Skipper, you're a CO. You make the rules now."

"That makes it even worse! What if." Samed sighed, the thought of even considering the Lieutenant felt weird, even with all the whiskey in his system. "Let's say I 'take the shot.' Alenko might see it as an order, since I'm his CO."

"Bullshit again, sir. The LT sees you as a good friend, not his CO. You even said it yourself."

Samed's fingers felt like they were gonna explode, sitting on his forehead. "This is a high risk mission, Williams and there's always the chance of." He sighed. "Why are we even talking about this?"

"Because, have you looked at yourself in a mirror lately, Skipper? Have you slept at all?"

She was right, he hasn't been sleeping well for...a month perhaps. But, "Your point, Ash?"

"You're stressed! Over nothing! This could only bring good things and you know it."

"What if." Thoughts spun through Samed's mind, thoughts of actually making it work with Alenko. Thoughts that brought warmth to his chest. Then a thought that chilled him to the core. "What if it doesn't work out? We start—" God, the word felt weird to say, "—dating—and. It doesn't work out? We drift apart or. Something."

"Tell you what then Skipper. Let's make a deal. If it doesn't work out, call me. Doesn't matter where you are, doesn't matter where I am, I'll bring the whiskey and we'll have some nice quality conversation. Just like what we're doing now."

Samed sighed again.

"And if it does work out, you’ll have to dance the whole night away on your wedding day."

Samed almost choked on the sip he was taking. "I think you're moving a little fast there, chief."

"Hey. I'm just saying. It's a fair exchange. If things go bad, I owe you another whiskey talk. If things go really well, you know what you have to do, Skipper. Dance! You can't lose, really."

Samed sighed. "Alright. Deal. But before I do anything, we have to stop Saren first. Or there won't even be a galaxy to dance the whole night away into."

"Fair point. Then promise me one more thing. When this is over and Saren goes back to whatever black hole he crawled out of, you're gonna take the LT on a nice night out and you're gonna—"

"Chief…"

"Hey. I'm not saying you have to stick your tongue in army boy's mouth right then." Samed blinked as heat rose up his face at the mental image. "What I am saying is, the LT is a fan of beer and sports. _And you,"_ he barely heard that last part. "What you do with that info is up to you, Skipper."

Samed took another sip of the whiskey.

"But just promise me that, okay?"

He sighed. "Fine. I promise. I guess a night out couldn't hurt."

"That depends on the amount of lubrication used, sir."

"Ash! I swear to God!"

Her laughter filled the tiny space—a really infectious laughter—and Samed couldn't help but join in.

"You're a good sort, Williams. Glad to have you on board.”

“Glad to be aboard, sir.”

Samed lifted his plastic cup. "To you, Chief. A great friend."

"And to you, Skipper. May you loosen up, for God's sake."

"Heh, well. Here here."

Plastic cup—touched—plastic cup and another glass of whiskey went down. This time the alcohol had really started to feel like too much, "holding his alcohol" or no.

He and Ash cleaned up and left the tiny space behind the rear access ramp just as Bakari and Dubyanski "sneaked in" again. Commander and Chief continued to the mess for a nightly raid of the fridge, the only people there near midnight.

After what resembled a feast but was probably just one meal ration, they parted ways, cabin and crew quarters respectively and finally, at around midnight, Samed pressed his face on the pillows on the bed that used to belong to Anderson and fell asleep. At a reasonable time, this time.


	3. Hair! Not the musical

The alarm clock blared its sour notes into Samed's ear.

The first thought on his mind was  _ "Have you looked at yourself in the mirror lately, sir?" _ And for some reason, it was a thought said with the Chief's voice.

So he did. He got up and looked at himself in the mirror, an unshaven curly-haired mess looking back and the events of last night had started to unfold. The sharing of stories, getting T'Soni drunk, the deal he made with Ash. God, what a night. The numb pain that pulsed through his temples indicated that he was maybe getting old for stuff like that.

He took his hair trimmer, removed the guard and took care of the beard first. Not clean shaven, but close enough so it won't start to itch. 

His hair was up next, having grown quite a bit in the past month or so. It had gained that familiar circle shape around his forehead, with all the tight curls, and for a second it was like a young version of his old man looked back from the mirror. Only without his trademark bushy mustache.

It was oddly comforting to know that he still had so much of the old guy in him, but. He sighed, the man in the mirror did too and looked like he was about to start giving him some kind of lecture on life. Samed shook his head and chuckled, a bittersweet warmth filling his chest, followed by another throb of his head. 

_ Thanks, Baaba _ , he smiled at the man in the mirror, who smiled back.

But the hair still needed to go. The regs demanded a short and clean cut, so he took the guard again and placed it back on the trimmer. He tilted his head forward and watched as dark ringlets fell in the sink below.

After a hot shower and a fresh change of uniform, it was morning proper and he headed to the mess for breakfast. At a reasonable time, this time.

The Lieutenant was the first person he saw, leaning on the counter as the microwave whirred in the background. His dark brows raised as Samed’s eyes met his, with only a hint of a smile tugging on his wide lips.

Samed felt a flutter in his chest and he straightened. "Good morning."

"Morning." Alenko gave a soft smile, though his eyes were wide and somehow  _ worried— _ that was new. Ash's words sprung to mind, _ I've seen the LT get kinda sad that you haven't been topside much the past week. _ "Hey, you cut your hair."

"Uh, yeah." Samed ran a hand through his now-short curls and smiled. "Regs. You know how it is."

"Heh, yeah. I have to take extra care of mine because of the biotics." Just as he said that the microwave dinged.

"Biotics?" Samed walked over to the cupboard and past Kaidan's ozone smell that lingered in the air and took out two mugs. "Are there special hair specifications for that?"

"Nah, it's the same regs. It's just, with L2s, when we discharge static electricity, some of it goes through the hair and it makes it shoot up." Kaidan opened the fridge and started rummaging through it.

"Static discharge? So. You’re a spaceship?"

The small kitchen was filled with Alenko's gravelly laugh. "Heh, you know what, that comparison is on point, actually. Now if only I could fly too. Or reach FTL. Yeah. That'd be great."

Samed chuckled. "Well that'll be something to see." 

Kaidan put something in the microwave, then turned. "But anyways, what did you put in yours to make it curl like that? It always looked so nice."

Heat rose up Samed's neck and cheeks and he could barely contain his lips curving into a smile. "Um. Nothing?" He closed the faucet, the two mugs now filled with coffee. "It has a mind of its own, really."

"You're lucky, then." The microwave dinged and Kaidan took out another tray from it.

Somehow both men ended up in the mess sitting opposite one another. Somehow Samed's tray of omelette with vegetables was in front of him, next to the coffee he'd made.

"I have to use a lot of gel in mine if I want it to look decent," Kaidan continued. "And some saltwater, sometimes. But um, heh, yeah, sorry. Don't want to bother you with my hair routine of all things."

"You never bother me." Amber eyes met his and heat moved up Samed's neck again. He gulped, blinked and continued, "I mean, you can talk to me about whatever you want, Kaidan. Isn't that what we agreed?"

"Yeah. You're right. But still. You're gonna regret saying that, you know."

"Try me, Alenko," Samed said and gave him a smirk, which he returned with a wide smile, the worry from his eyes finally going away.

Kaidan then went on a rant about something to do with biotics and hair; all while a pleasant warmth built in Samed's stomach as he watched this man purse his lips, look at some imaginary spot on the ceiling when he was deep in thought and occasionally give a dimpled smile which Samed reflexively returned every time.

The deal he and Ash made stood on Samed's mind the whole time. A night out after they defeat Saren, something to do with beer and sports. It was too early to figure out all the details and there were so many ways it could all go wrong, but for now. 

For now it felt so good and relaxing to listen to Alenko's gravelly voice as he passionately talked about...hair?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you're interested in reading more about Samed and Olly's relationship, as well as about Samed's life before ME1, check out my other fic: [Darkness is your candle](https://archiveofourown.org/works/22576582/chapters/53950888)!


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